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Big EU energy projects cannot be chosen behind closed doors, say NGOs


Justice & Environment, Bankwatch press release

Brussels — As a new process of identifying big EU energy Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) kicks off in Brussels today, environmental NGOs warn that the EU must only prioritise energy projects which are not destructive of the environment and climate, and that the choice of these projects must be done through a transparent process.

In a development little known to the general public, DG Energy is today starting a new process of selecting EU priority energy projects during the so-called Second Cross-Regional Group Meeting 2014.

Once a project – electricity grid, gas terminal, pipeline and alike – is identified as a PCI, it receives preferential treatment. „Firstly, member states should treat such project as superior, make permit-granting as fast as possible – main proceedings in maximum18 months,” explains Birgit Schmidhuber from NGO Justice & Environment. “Secondly, PCIs are eligible for funds from a special EU-fund as well as for financial ‘incentives’ from national governments.”

Such a project is also more likely to obtain support from European public facilities or bodies such as the Connecting Europe Facility, the European Investment Bank or institutions de facto controlled by EU Member States such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

In October last year, the European Commission presented a first list of its preferred energy projects for prioritisation, which was drafted behind closed doors. The preparation of a second list begins today.

“What we noticed with the first list was that there were way too many pipelines and LNG terminals which were prioritised by the Commission, which if approved are likely to threaten the EU’s climate targets for 2030 and beyond,” says Bankwatch’s Kuba Gogolewski. “Regardless of the type of projects that are being considered for prioritisation, their selection should happen in a totally transparent manner, so that civil society and local communities can alert of any environmental and social problems caused by the envisaged routing of these PCIs.”

While the first list was drafted by the Commission after only consulting with energy representatives, NGOs are now calling on DG Energy to ensure a more open and transparent process, including local communities and environmental NGOs, for the selection of projects to be included on the second list.

“DG Energy already promised a more inclusive process, we only hope they will stay true to their word,” says Birgit Schmidhuber from Justice and Environment. “Energy security and an efficient energy market are important goals but should not be achieved at the cost of destruction of environment and mismanagement of public funds.”

For more information, please contact:

Birgit Schmidhuber
birgit.schmidhuber@oekobuero.at

Kuba Gogolewski
kuba.gogolewski@bankwatch.org
Tel.: (0032)485358317

Notes for the editors:

1. See the existing list of PCI projects:
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/infrastructure/pci/pci_en.htm

2. Read recommendations from Justice and Environment and Bankwatch for the choosing of new PCIs:
http://www.justiceandenvironment.org/_files/file/2014/JaE_Bankwatch_PCI%20Process%20Recommendations%202014.pdf

Energy Community meeting must deliver reforms


Brussels – A group of leading NGOs active in the Balkan region [1] are calling for urgent reform of the Energy Community Treaty, as its Ministerial Council prepares to meet in Kiev on September 23rd [2]. The groups are calling for both the expansion of the environmental and climate component of the Treaty and measures to ensure that existing obligations are better enforced.

“Energy Community Treaty reform is a once in a decade opportunity to garner support for the EU’s neighbours to meet EU climate and energy targets”, said Garret Tankosić-Kelly, Principal of SEE Change Net Foundation.

“The New Climate Economy report demonstrates that sustainable development is only attainable through the joint action of countries at all income levels, particularly in the energy sector which is still the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the Balkans,” added Dragana Mileusnic of CAN Europe.

Recent changes in the European Commission structure, where high priority has been given to the concept of an Energy Union, under Vice-President Alenka Bratušek, are expected to lead to the EU strengthening its cooperation with the Energy Community in the following years.

“Governments in Contracting Parties must give EU environmental law as much importance as EU energy rules. Only with the stronger environmental rules can we ensure the creation of a fair common energy market for the EU and the Energy Community,” said Malgorzata Smolak of Client Earth.

Weak enforcement of Energy Community rules set forth in the Treaty remains one of the major obstacles for their full implementation. Strengthening enforcement must be the top priority of the reform, while more EU environmental legislation needs to be included in the Treaty, NGOs concluded. They also expect to be more effectively engaged in the work of the Energy Community to ensure better transparency and public participation.

Contacts:

Dragana Mileusnic, CAN Europe Policy Officer
dragana@caneurope.org
Tel.: +32 471 438 442

Masha Durkalic, SEE Change Net Communications Officer masha@seechangenet.org
Tel.: +387 63 999 827

Notes:

[1] The NGOs are: SEE Change Net Foundation, Bosnia and Herzegovina ∙ Client Earth, Poland ∙ Front 21/42, Macedonia ∙ CAN Europe, Belgium ∙ Analytica, Macedonia ∙ Advocacy and Training Resource Center – ATRC, Kosovo ∙ CEKOR, Serbia ∙ Public Interest Advocacy Center – CPI, Bosnia and Herzegovina ∙ Center for Environment, Bosnia and Herzegovina ∙ DOOR, Croatia ∙ Environmental Center for Development, Education and Networking – EDEN, Albania ∙ Ekolevizja, Albania ∙ Eko-Svest, Macedonia ∙ Forum for Freedom of Education – FSO, Croatia ∙ Fractal, Serbia ∙ Green Home, Montenegro ∙ MANS, Montenegro ∙ World Wide Fund For Nature – Mediterranean Programme∙ CEE Bankwatch Network, Czech Republic.

[2] The Energy Community is an organisation set up to help the countries of the Western Balkans and the Black Sea region adopt and implement existent EU energy policies (EU Energy Acquis). The Ministerial Council is the highest decision-making body of the Energy Community and comprises of the energy Ministers from the Contracting Parties and representatives of the European Union.

New Commission might sideline environment in CEE

Brussels — The priorities of European Commission president elect Jean-Claude Juncker for the newly-announced Commission threaten Europe’s climate and resource efficiency ambitions, says CEE Bankwatch Network. Particularly worrying from the perspective of CEE countries is an apparent shift in the vision of Regional Policy from making the European economy more sustainable, to “jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness” without any nod to green energy and resource efficiency.

In a “mission letter” yesterday outlining the agenda to be pursued by the new Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu, who is tasked with oversight of more than 450 billion euros in EU regional development funds, Juncker makes a U-turn from the previously agreed investment plans for green energy and resource spending.

“I would ask you to pay particular attention to the contribution that the funds under your responsibility can make to establishing a European Energy Union and completing the Digital Single Market,” Juncker writes to Cretu in the mission letter. This is a far cry from the vision of Regional Policy set out in Commission proposals from last year, which earmarked 38 billion euros from the regional funds for climate action intended to modernise the European economy, particularly in central and eastern Europe where funds are most needed.

In reaction to the letter, Mark Fodor, Executive Director of the CEE Bankwatch Network said, “By missing out to acknowledge the crucial role of EU funding for addressing the climate challenge, the president-elect is showing complete disregard for the future of our planet.”

Read the full “mission letter” to the new Regional Policy Commissioner:
http://ec.europa.eu/about/juncker-commission/docs/cretu_en.pdf

Read a letter send by Green 10, the most important environmental NGOs in Brussels, to Jean-Claude Juncker about the structure of the new Commission:
https://bankwatch.org/sites/default/files/G10-letter-Juncker-EC-11Sep2014.pdf

For more information, contact:

Mark Fodor, Executive Director Bankwatch
mark.fodor@bankwatch.org

Markus Trilling, EU funds coordinator Bankwatch
markus.trilling@bankwatch.org
+32484056636

Europe’s finance ministers urged to stop EU Bank’s ‘extraordinary’ slide towards secrecy

Campaigners across Europe are urging the European Commission and their Ministers of Finance to halt a dangerous slide towards secrecy of the giant European Investment Bank (EIB), of which the EU member states are owners.

The already secretive Bank is proposing to make it far harder for European citizens to find out what it is up to, despite the fact it is a ‘public’ bank owned by EU governments.

Now campaigners including Counter Balance, Eurodad and Christian Aid have written to EIB directors, who represent the EU member states and the Commission on the board of the bank, urging them to speak out against the plans at their next meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday, 16th September.

“The Bank’s planned lurch towards secrecy is extraordinary,” said Joseph Stead, Senior Economic Justice Adviser at Christian Aid. “At a time when the rest of the world has recognised that companies behave better when the public can find out what they’re doing, the Bank is proposing to conceal more than ever.”

Maria Jose Romero, Policy and Advocacy Manager at Eurodad, said: “Despite numerous calls from the European Parliament for the EIB to act with more transparency, it is becoming increasingly secretive. This is a Bank that is effectively owned by the people of Europe and, as such, it should be open and accountable.”

Xavier Sol, Director of Counter Balance added: “We urge all the directors to use next week’s Bank Board meeting to demand the bank to abandon plans to limit transparency and instead pursue openness and honesty about its affairs. We hope the public interest will prevail over corporate interests.”

The European Investment Bank lent EUR 71.7 billion to projects within and outside Europe last year; around 10 per cent of its funding goes to more than 150 countries outside the European Union, including in Eastern Europe the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Bank-financed schemes include large infrastructure projects like motorways, pipelines and power stations as well as loans to small and medium-sized enterprises through financial intermediaries.

According to the 2013 Aid Transparency Index, the Bank is already lagging behind other multilateral organisations in terms of transparency. The Index rated it as ‘poor’ – one rung above the worst rating of ‘very poor’, as part of an assessment and ranking of 60 donor organisations.

This summer, the Bank launched a public consultation on proposals to change its ‘transparency’ policy in ways which would allow it to hide even more information than at present. The Bank has invited comments on its proposals by 26th September 2014.

Notes to editors

1. The Letter to the EIB directors:
http://www.counter-balance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Transparency-policy-letter-EIB-Directors.pdf

2. A briefing by the NGO Counter Balance lists the most worrying changes:
http://www.counter-balance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Policy-note_EIB-transparency-policy_Counter-Balance.pdf

Contacts

Counter Balance – Xavier Sol
xavier.sol@counter-balance
Tel.: +32 2 893 08 61

Eurodad – Julia Ravenscroft
jravenscroft@eurodad.org
Tel.: +32 2 893 0854

Christian Aid – Rachel Baird
RBaird@christian-aid.org

Azerbaijan political prisoners list published with report’s authors on it

London — Human rights activists in Azerbaijan published yesterday a list of 98 people who are currently political prisoners in the country run by the authoritarian regime of Ilham Aliyev. Ironically, the list includes the names of two of its authors, prominent rights activists Rasul Jafarov and Leyla Yunus, who were arrested under false charges earlier this month while they were working on the report.

Rasul and Leyla’s arrests are some of the latest in a new wave of systematic repression by the Azerbaijani regime that has seen four prominent activists arrested in the space of the last two weeks.

In the most recent incident, veteran activist and lawyer Intigam Aliyev was detained in the Azeri capital last Friday, and charged with tax evasion, abuse of office and illegal entrepreneurship. His name is now the latest entry on the political prisoners list.

Leyla Yunus, one of the Azerbaijan regime’s fiercest critics, was detained at the beginning of August alongside her husband Arif Yunus, on accusations of treason, spying for Armenia and illegal business activities, which could land them in prison for life.

Lawyer Khalid Bagirov, who is acting on behalf of all four activists, has said the arrests are politically motivated, and that their acquittal is “impossible”. There is concern for Arif and Leyla Yunus, who both have long-running health problems, which require specific medication and foods. This is not being provided in prison.

The recent arrest and the launch of the political prisoners list are taking place just ahead of next month’s 20th anniversary of the signing of the so-called contract of the century between Azerbaijan, BP and ten other international oil companies. Since that signing repression in Azerbaijan has steadily increased.

Azerbaijan is a gas rich country which makes it a favourite destination for many EU leaders in recent years. Among them where David Cameron (UK prime minister), Mark Rutte (Netherlands’ Prime Minister), Jose Manuel Barrosso (EC president) and Suma Chakhrabati (EBRD President). And just one month ago Aliyev paid an official visit to Italy which currently holds the EU presidency.

While the EU already reacted to Jafarov’s arrest calling on the Azeri authorities to respect the rights of civil society organisations, repeated human rights violations hasn’t prevented it from maintaining a close relationship with Aliyev’s regime. The arrests have paradoxically intensified in a period when Azerbaijan is holding rotating the presidency of the Council of Europe.

In a move to decrease its dependence on Russian gas, the EU and many of its member states are preparing the construction of a pipeline that has to bring Azeri gas via Turkey to the EU, the so called Euro-Caspian mega pipeline or the Southern Corridor. It is also expected to receive massive EU funding from the commission, member states development banks and private companies.

In June 2014, before his arrest, Rasul Jafarov commented “Before the oil and gas incomes came to Azerbaijan we had more democracy and freedom. From then on the situation started to deteriorate. We have problems with journalists being arrested, political prisoners, religious believers -if you criticise the government you can be easily interrogated and prosecuted under fabricated charges.”

Emma Hughes, from Platform London, who has been tracking the impact of oil and gas in Azerbaijan since 1998, said: “As the 20th anniversary of the contract of the century approaches the human rights situation in Azerbaijan couldn’t be worse. The time has come for BP to say enough: they have to withdraw any financing for the Aliyev regime and join the international call for the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.”

Notes for the editors:

(1) See the list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan:
https://bankwatch.org/documents/politicalprisoners-AZ.pdf

(2) Read a blog post by UK NGO Platform on the arrest of rights activist Rasul Jafarov:
http://platformlondon.org/2014/08/06/human-rights-activist-and-platform-ally-rasul-jafarov-arrested-in-azerbaijan/

(3) Read more about the Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline:
http://platformlondon.org/p-publications/europes-gas-grab-the-euro-caspian-mega-pipeline/

(4) Rasul and Yunus also campaigned against the 1st Europen Olympic Games that will be hosted by Azerbaijan in 2015 and which are a major PR coup for Ilham Aliyev’s repressive regime. More in this Platform blog post:
http://platformlondon.org/2014/07/10/all-that-glitters-azerbaijan-and-the-olympics/

(5) Earlier this month it was announced that Blair will advice the consortium behind TAP, the last part of the pipeline which runs from the Balkans to Italy.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/28b699ae-0d9f-11e4-815f-00144feabdc0.html#axzz39ccwNNod

For more information please contact

Emma Hughes
emma@platformlondon.org
+44 780 114 01 92

–

Image source: Platform London

EBRD in Serbia: Don’t use floods to prop up coal


The EBRD should stick to its newly approved Energy Strategy and reject any investments in the Serbian coal sector, argue a group of 7 international NGOs [*] in a letter sent to the bank’s board of directors today. The groups were concerned with recent statements by the EBRD according to which the bank’s regional flood response in the Balkans could include “rehabilitation of (…) damaged power stations and transmission and distribution networks.”

Read the letter sent by NGOs to the EBRD here:

https://bankwatch.org/sites/default/files/letter-EBRD-RSfloods-coal07Jul2014.pdf

The tragic floods hitting Serbia in May had a serious impact on the country’s highly centralised energy system: the Kolubara mines, the biggest in Serbia and feeding power plants which produce about half the electricity used in the country, were all inundated. The country’s coal production was roughly halved soon after the floods, with the government being forced to resort to imports.

“The energy crisis that looms large today in Serbia has its roots in the faulty structuring of the energy system,” writes the NGO letter. “The highly centralized power sector is excessively reliant on electricity production by coal-burning plants that were built before 1990 and are supplied with lignite from local mines.” According to the document, debates in Serbia around a new energy strategy for the country to be valid 2015-2025 make it clear that the government plans to continue giving a central role to coal.

„It is possible that the government of Serbia, like others in the region, may have requested for EBRD financial help with reopening mines or rehabilitating coal plants,” says Bankwatch’s EBRD coordinator Findaka Bacheva-McGrath. „Yet the EBRD should have learnt by now that the perpetual crisis of the energy sector in Serbia is caused by overreliance on coal and hyper-centralisation which can no longer be justified with post-war and post-flood excuses.”

„If the EBRD really wants to help Serbia, it cannot keep contributing to keeping us prisoners of coal,” says Zvezdan Kalmar of Serbian NGO CEKOR. „Instead, the EBRD could give more support for energy efficiency measures in housing, where the potential for savings is huge, and invest in alternatives to fossil fuels. 20 to 30 percent of our energy needs could be met from biomass in no more than five years if proper investments were made.”

In their letter, the NGOs draw particular attention to communities living in the vicinity of the coal mines at Kolubara. In the village of Vreoci for instance, near the Kolubara Field D where mining has been intensified to make up for other mines not being used, people who have been asking for years to be relocated because they live too close to the mines are more worried than ever. Not only has potentially toxic mining waste has been brought by the floods in their villages but they also fear the impacts of intensified mining on their crumbling houses.

„The EBRD always claims that Serbian state company EPS is in charge of resettlements of people, but for so many years they have not bothered with the rights of people living close to the mines,” says Kalmar. „If the EBRD want to provide Serbia with humanitarian assistance, the best way to start is to create a fund for facilitating the resettlement of communities impacted by the Kolubara mines.”

Read the letter sent by NGOs to the EBRD here:

https://bankwatch.org/sites/default/files/letter-EBRD-RSfloods-coal07Jul2014.pdf


* CEE Bankwatch Network, CEKOR Serbia, Center for Environment Bosnia and Herzegovina, SEE ChangeNet, Sierra Club US, Both Ends Netherlands, 350.org

For more information, contact:

Ioana Ciuta, CEE Bankwatch Network energy coordinator
ioana.ciuta@bankwatch.org
Tel.: +40 724 020 281

Zvezdan Kalmar, CEKOR Serbia
zvezdan@bankwatch.org
Tel.: +38 816 055 231 91